LOCATION: Christ Lutheran Church, 701 N. Indiana Ave.,Englewood
Englewood Orchid society will host a joint meeting of EAOS and VAOS in Englewood on July 11, 2016 with Jim Roberts as the speaker. Jim is the owner of Florida Suncoast Orchids, located near Myakka City where he grows Phalaenopsis, Dendrobium, Vanda and his specialties: Cattleya and Encyclia hybrids.
He will bring a wide variety of plants for sale.
Roger Hammer is a professional naturalist, botanist, author, and photographer. He was the Keynote Speaker at the 19th World Orchid Conference in Miami and also gave the Keynote address at the Florida Native Plant Society state conferences in 1997 and 2013. Among his awards are the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award from the Florida Native Plant Society and the Charles Brookfield Medal from Tropical Audubon Society. In 2012 he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Florida International University. His specialty in wildflowers is native orchids and, of the 108 species reported for Florida, he has photographed 94 of them. He spends his leisure time birdwatching, long-distance canoeing, kayak fishing, and sipping expensive rums. Roger also works as a survivalist instructor for the Discovery Channel on their reality TV program, Naked and Afraid. Roger grew up in Cocoa Beach but moved to Homestead after being honorably discharged from the Army in 1968 as a tank gunner. Visit his website for further information: http://www.rogerlhammer.com
Location: Venice Community Center -(doors open at 6:30)
Speaker 
Ramnarine John Budree was born in Trinidad and migrated to Florida about fifteen years ago. In Trinidad, he grew many different types of orchids and took part in collecting and showing at many shows, but there was always something more. He wanted to learn more about orchids, wanted more of a challenge. He wanted to grow and flower them, of course. So when he came to Florida, he got involved with orchids on a different level. Here he was able to grow all of those types of plants he could only read about and even meet all of those people that grew and wrote the articles that he had read in AOS magazines.
So he started on his journey/adventure. He began to go to many of the shows and what do you do when you go to a show…. YOU BUY ORCHIDS, which you know nothing about, in the hope you can grow or flower it. He always liked Paphiopedilum but he was told he couldn’t grow them. This became a challenge to John and he found these plants very interesting as well. He met some of the biggest and the best orchid growers, Jack Schendowich, Warren Kelly (Orchid World), Bob Scully (Jones & Scully), Mr. Frank Smith (Krull-Smith) and Sheldon Takasaki (Carmela Orchids). These people really know how to grow orchids but not just any orchids, but Paphiopedilum, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Dendrobium, and Oncidium, e.g. Krull- Smith has more AOS awards than any other orchid grower past or present.
At the 19th World Orchid Congress in Miami in 2008, John had an opportunity to work with Frank Smith, an experienced and internationally recognized grower of Paphiopedilum, hybridizer, landscaper and designer. He tried to absorb as much of Frank Smith’s knowledge as possible, and did an exhibit on his own. After that, he started to grow many types of Paphs and today he owns over 1750 as well as about 2000 other types of orchids. Of course, he says, he has also lost count of the ones he killed. In short he has been growing Orchids for about 30 years, from flask to flower and has accumulated about 30 AOS awards. He continues to speak at numerous orchid societies and symposiums.
Mr. Budree will talk about the bizarre, weird world of Bulbophyllums, the largest genus in the orchid family Orchidaceae.
Location: Venice Community Center -(doors open at 6:30)